


Snow Blind

by scapeartist



Series: 15-Minute Masterpieces [12]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Underworld (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 07:52:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7093210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scapeartist/pseuds/scapeartist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prompt for this was "Snow" and "Pride." Killian and Snow clear the air at the Underworld cemetery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow Blind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Krustybunny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krustybunny/gifts).



> Each one-shot in this series is part of a writing prompt exercise. I was having some trouble getting into the writing groove again and asked for a word and a character, and from there I would spend at least 15 minutes writing, I would not heavily edit, nor would I use a beta. This was purely me needing to get my brain moving. The "Masterpiece" part is tongue-in-cheek (even if most of these are not bad at all).

Killian couldn’t take his eye from the headstones before him. Seeing them was worse than any physical torture Hades could have inflicted upon him. Worse than what he’d already done. His broken hand and ribs throbbed and his injured leg was becoming numb the longer he stood. But his heart was so broken he wasn’t sure it hadn’t already turned to ash.

Emma released his arm and moved away to talk with Regina and David to come up with their next move. Killian had nothing to offer on the topic. Not at the moment. Everything was too much. He was too tired, too hurt, too angry, too… undeserving.

“Killian?”

Snow White was standing beside him now, a look of sympathy softening her features as she reached out and laid a gentle hand to his arm. He looked away from her and swallowed thickly, frowning. He would have understood—preferred—hate in her eyes or a harshness in her tone, but he found none, and the lack of it felt heavy in his chest.

“Killian, look at me.”

He raised his head to meet her gaze, and she smiled at him.

“I know what you are thinking,” she said.

HIs eyebrows pinched together but he said nothing. He couldn’t. How could she possibly know he was regretting every single thing that had lead to this moment. He shook his head once, his jaw clenched tight.

“You think you deserve all this, don’t you? The punishment, the suffering…”

“Don’t I?”

“No.”

“Your name, _Emma’s name_ , is right there on those _bloody_ stones because of _me_. You are here because of _me_. After what I did to you all, do I deserve less than what I’ve gotten?”

“You are right, we are here because of you and what you did, but it’s not the part you are thinking of.”

Killian glanced at Snow before returning his gaze to the headstones he would gladly exchange for his own life.

Snow stood before him and blocked his view.

“You didn’t carve our names. You aren’t to blame for that. Hades is. And are you forgetting you saved us before, too?”

“I _saved_ you? I tried to send you here myself!”

“That wasn’t you.”

Killian looked away, the heart he thought demolished, beating quick and hard in despair. He knew better. He knew that a part of what he did was most definitely him. He was careless when he was angry, vengeful when he had been wronged. The combination was deadly to anyone near.

Snow huffed in frustration.

“ _You–_ Killian, not the Dark One _—saved_ Emma. She’s no longer the Dark One because of what you did. I could not be more grateful for that. What you did…” Snow took a deep breath and gave a small, pained laugh. “What you did was give us back _our daughter_. The one thing we couldn’t do ourselves.”

Killian pleaded, “But you can do it _now_. You need to take her home. You all need to get out of here and leave me.”

Snow shifted her bow to her other hand.

“I should think by now you know that we don’t work that way.”

Killian exhaled in defeat. “Aye, you are a stubborn lot.”

“And you fit right in, don’t you?”

A flicker of a smile crossed Killian’s lips as he shook his head, his hair falling into his good eye. Snow stepped forward, reached up, and brushed it away.

“We are _here_ because you deserve your happiness. Emma deserves her happiness. And a large part of that is you.”

“She could do better.”

“No, I don’t think she could,” Snow said firmly. “Listen, watching you die was… was horrible. But in that moment when you gave up everything? I could not have been more proud of you. If you think we don’t recognize just how worthy you are to be with Emma, you are blind…” Snow stopped and laughed. “Er. Blind- _er_.”

Killian raised an eyebrow and smiled in spite of his heavy heart, but Snow’s words lingered. He only wished it wasn’t too late to hear them.

Emma returned to his side and sighed. “We are going to split up again, see what we can find out about how to get out of here now that plan A is a bust. But first I need to get this guy fixed up.”

“Maybe you’ll have better luck getting him to see,” Snow said, looking levelly at Killian.

Emma looked between the two of them, her eyebrows arching gently in question. Neither answered, and she shrugged.

“Ready?” she asked, wrapping her arm around Killian’s waist.

He nodded, and gave a short, stiff bow in Snow’s direction before Emma poofed them both out of the cemetery.


End file.
